METHOD TO IMPLEMENT E911 SERVICES IN IMS (IP MULTIMEDIA SUBSYSTEM)

• US 20100233991A1
• Filed: 06/15/2009
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crawford, Dwayne, Lu, Min, Khan, Richard L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

A system and method that facilitates processing and/or routing of emergency call in an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) for VoIP (Voice over IP) subscribers is provided. Specifically, an E911 profile is generated, for example, by an application server, for each VoIP subscriber based in part on current location information associated with the subscriber, such as, the subscriber'"'"'s IP address. The E911 profile is pushed to the HSS (Home Subscriber Server) of the IMS. The E911 profile can then be stored in the HSS and can be queried by an E-CSCF (Emergency Call Session Control Function) during emergency call processing. Moreover, when an emergency call is received from the subscriber, the E-CSCF can retrieve the E911 profile associated with the subscriber from the HSS and route the call to an appropriate PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) based on an analysis of the information in the E911 profile.

Claims

1. A system for processing emergency calls in IMS (IP multimedia subsystem), comprising:

a profile fetching component that queries a data store within the IMS for an E911 (Enhanced

     911) profile associated with a user when an emergency call is received from the user; and

a routing component that routes the emergency call to a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) determined based in part on an analysis of the E911 profile.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein, the E911 profile is generated by an application server and pushed to the data store.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein, the data store is a Home Subscriber Server (HSS).

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a call receiving component that receives a call from the user and identifies whether the received call is an emergency call.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a profile analysis component that analyzes one or more parameters within the E911 profile and determines a routing path for the emergency call based in part on the analysis.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein, the E911 profile includes at least one of a Temporary Telephone Number (TTN), an Emergency Services Routing Number (ESRN), or a LRF (Location Routing Function) indicator.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising, an E-CSCF (Emergency Call Session Control Function) that sends the user'"'"'s calling telephone number as an ANI (Automatic Number Identification) to the PSAP when the TTN is populated as null and the LRF indicator is set as “

No”

.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein, the E-CSCF sends the TTN value as the ANI when the TTN parameter is populated with a value other than null.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein, the E-CSCF queries at least one of a LRF (Location Routing Function) or RDF (Routing Determination Function) when the LRF indicator is set as “

Yes”

to retrieve at least one of an ESRN or ESQK (Emergency Services Query Key).

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the routing component utilizes the ESRN to determine a route for the emergency call, the ESRN is obtained from the E911 profile when the LRF indicator is set to “

No”

or obtained by querying at least one of a LRF or RDF when the LRF indicator is set to “

Yes”

.

11. A method that facilitates utilization of user location information during emergency call processing in an IMS (IP multimedia subsystem), comprising:

generating an E911 profile for a subscriber based in part on the subscriber'"'"'s location; and

pushing the generated E911 profile to a data store within the IMS.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, retrieving the stored E911 profile to facilitate emergency call routing for an emergency call received from the subscriber.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising, determining the subscriber'"'"'s location based in part on a registration IP (Internet Protocol) address.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising at least one of:

populating a TTN (Temporary Telephone Number) as null, assigning an ESRN (Emergency Services Routing Number) and setting an LRF (Location Routing Function) indicator as “

No”

when determined that the subscriber is at a home location;

assigning TTN and ERSN values and setting the LRF indicator as “

No”

when determined that the subscriber is visiting at a tenant location;

or

populating TTN and ERSN as null and setting the LRF indicator as “

Yes”

when determined that the subscriber is nomadic.

15. A method that facilitates routing emergency calls from a VoIP (Voice over IP) user in an IMS (IP multimedia subsystem), comprising:

fetching an E911 (Enhanced

     911) profile associated with the user from a data store within the IMS, when an emergency call is received from the user, the E911 profile is generated by an application server and pushed to the data store;

analyzing the E911 profile; and

determining at least one of routing information or an ANI (Automatic Number Identification) associated with the emergency call based in part on the analysis.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising, utilizing the user'"'"'s calling telephone number as the ANI when the E911 profile includes a TTN (Temporary Telephone Number) that is populated as null and an LRF (Location Routing Function) indicator that is set as “

No”

.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising, utilizing a TTN value in the E911 profile as the ANI when a TTN parameter in the E911 profile is populated with a value other than null.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

querying at least one of a LRF (Location Routing Function) or RDF (Routing Determination Function) when an LRF indicator in the E911 profile is set as “

Yes”

, to retrieve at least one of an ESRN or ESQK (Emergency services query key);

utilizing the ESQK as the ANI; and

employing the ESRN to route the emergency call to an appropriate BGCF (Breakout Gateway Control Function).

19. A system that facilitates utilization of subscriber location information during processing of emergency calls from a VoIP (Voice over IP) subscriber in an IMS (IP multimedia subsystem), comprising:

means for storing an E911 (Enhanced

     911) profile for each VoIP subscriber within the IMS, the E911 profile is generated by an application server and pushed to the means for storing when the E911 profile is at least one of generated or modified;

means for retrieving an E911 profile associated with the VoIP subscriber when an emergency call is received from the VoIP subscriber; and

means for determining a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) to which the emergency call is routed, based in part on an analysis of the information in the E911 profile.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for at least one of generating or updating the E911 profile based in part on the VoIP subscriber'"'"'s current location; and

means for pushing the E911 profile to the means for storing.